


Building Blocks

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 03:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1330261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think you want some.  I think you're feeling some type of way because you want some.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building Blocks

“No Facebook!” Derek exclaimed as Ellie bounced off the couch and started walking down the hall toward her room.

“You are so not the boss of me.” The teenager poked her head back around the corner.

“I am so totally the boss of you.”

“Just wait until my Facebook feed hears about this.”

“That’s so funny I forgot to laugh.” Derek pointed at her.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. See you later, Alex.” 

“Goodnight.”

Derek and Alex were still sitting on the couch. His Rottweiler Clooney had apparently mistaken Alex for a set of couch cushions and was lying across her lap. She didn’t seem bothered by it. He got up and started cleaning some of the mess. There were boxes of mostly empty Chinese food and throwaway platters as well. The 50” TV mounted on the wall was just a blue screen… _Shaft_ had just ended.

“I got some pie in here if you want dessert.” Derek said walking to the kitchen. “Its peach and my mama sent it to me.”

“Are you serious?” Alex asked.

“What?” Derek walked back into the den. “You don’t believe my mama sent me some pie?”

“I don’t believe you think I can eat anything else.”

“I've learned over the years that there is always room for pie. It’s best when it’s warm with a scoop of golden vanilla ice cream.”

“You're killing me, Morgan.” Alex laughed as she covered her face.

“I think you want some. I think you're feeling some type of way because you want some.”

“I really want the pie.”

“I knew it. Peach is the hardest to resist I think.”

“Just a little slice.” Alex held her thumb and forefinger close together.

“OK, a little slice.”

She leaned back against the couch and sighed when he was gone again. It had been a long day. Alex didn’t think she’d been so physical in a long time, even when she was chasing after Unsubs. She arrived at the Potomac house at 11. 

Derek and Ellie had been there for an hour. Alex was nervous. She wasn’t often anxious in social situations but something about meeting Ellie made her stomach churn a bit. Kids could see through people better than anyone…except for maybe teenagers.

“ _Hey.” She walked up onto the porch where Derek was waiting for her._

_“Glad you could find the place.” He smiled. “Everything out here can seem like it’s in the middle of nowhere, even though it’s so close to DC. You ready to get your hands dirty.”_

_“I dressed appropriately.” Alex nodded. “I'm wearing work boots.”_

_“Did you just buy those?”_

_“No…unless by ‘just’ you mean on Wednesday. Because if you mean that than the answer is yes. Yes.”_

_“C'mon.”_

_He laughed as they went into the house. Ellie was in the kitchen taking shelves down from the cabinets. She was good with her hands; Morgan had been shocked by what she showed him early on. It was going to be a good day._

_“Dr. Alex Blake, this is Ellie Spicer…teenager.”_

_“Nice to meet you.” Alex extended her hand._

_“In addition to being a teenager, I also enjoy 70s hard rock, digital art, and sneakers you could probably never play sports in.”_

_“I love crossword puzzles, suspense novels, and the sound of violins.”_

_“Cool.” Ellie smiled. “And you're a cougar; I like it.”_

_“Excuse me?” Alex looked at Ellie and then at Derek._

_“You're what, like 8 years older than Morgan? I mean not that I'm trying to guess your age and you don’t look old or anything but I hear younger men keep you younger. That’s what the magazines my mom reads always say anyway.”_

_“We are not…” Alex couldn’t finish the thought._

_“She's not the doctor, Ellie.” Derek said._

_“Huh?” Ellie walked back across the room to her shelves._

_“Alex isn’t the doctor I'm dating. We work together at the FBI.”_

_“No way, you're in the BAU?” Ellie was suddenly back in the conversation._

_“Yes.” Alex nodded._

_“And you're not the doctor dating Morgan?”_

_“No.”_

_“Oh. Well then surely I’ll be nicer to you today than I had planned.”_

_“You're not funny.” Morgan said._

_“I'm a laugh riot and you know it.” Ellie smiled._

_“What do you want me to do, Derek?” Alex asked._

_“I think we should finish stripping the wallpaper in the living room.” he looked at Ellie. “Are you going to be OK in here?”_

_“I'm cool. I’ll come and get you when I'm done.”_

_“Good deal.”_

_“Can I play some music?” she asked, pointing to the iPod dock sitting on the dusty counter._

_“Sure, but not too loud because I need to hear you.” Derek replied._

_“Gotcha.”_

_Ellie gave him the thumbs up. Derek and Alex left the room and he gave her a nervous smile. Alex gave his arm a friendly pat._

_“You're not allowed to tell anyone about my cougar tendencies.” She said. “There are some things a woman keeps to herself.”_

_“I am so sorry about that. Ellie is just totally Ellie. I couldn’t have stopped that whole thing if I tried.”_

_“She seems great. I can see where the mistake was made. You told her that you were dating a doctor and here I am.”_

_“And you do look good today, Doctor Blake.”_

_“Thanks. I'm ready to get dirty. I wanted to make sure I wore something that had already seen some abuse.”_

_“Love the tee shirt. I'm surprised smarty puss didn’t comment on it.”_

_Alex wore a pair of worn blue jeans with her work boots. She also had on a black thermal shirt, it was still cold out, and a Jay-Z Black Album tee shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail but there were some flyaways. When they got to the living room, Derek gave her a pair of gloves._

_“You don’t want to get this stuff on your hands.” He said._

_“Oh God, what have I gotten myself into.”_

_“I already tested it and it strips the paper. I think if we work together we can get this room done today.”_

_“I've done some DIY stuff, my dad always preferred to do projects himself.” Alex said. “But I've never done wallpaper.”_

_“30 years ago people used steamers, which can cause a lot of damage to the drywall. This solution will help save as much wall as I can. I'm gonna have to do a lot of work on it anyway but the less work later, the better. Some other rooms in this place are going to need serious time.”_

_“Did you give the owners an idea of how long this would take?” Alex asked. She watched Morgan mixing a solution together with warm water from a bucket._

_“It’s a six to nine month project.” He replied. “The grace of God saved this place from demolition but it’s a complete restoration and that takes time and plenty of work.”_

_“How can you do all of this and the BAU too?”_

_“I'm a man of many talents, though I surely don’t like to brag.”_

_“Mmm hmm…I can tell_.”

“Derek Morgan that is not a small piece of pie.”

“Sure it is.” He walked back into the room carrying two bowls and spoons. 

“It is the exact opposite of small.” She shook her head.

“In Chicago we call this the mini. That’s a true story.”

“I'm from Kansas City and there we call it a hunka hunka.” Alex rolled her eyes as she took the bowl. Clooney immediately woke from his napping position. The dog seemed less than pleased when Derek told him to get down. Alex watched him jump off the couch and head down the hall.

“It might take a while for your legs to wake up.” Derek sat down beside her on the couch. “Wanna watch another movie?”

“What do you have?”

“What don’t I have? I'm a movie man.”

“Was that your claim to fame back in the day?” she smiled. “Get a girl in the dark and make that move.”

“Why does everyone think I'm some kind of lady killer…no pun intended?”

“Look at you.”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked.

“Oh c'mon, they had to tell you how gorgeous you were at every turn.”

“I was never hurting for female companionship if that’s what you mean. I dated a lot in my time but the BAU keeps me so busy that I don’t have time now. I mean…I think it might be time to meet a nice woman and settle down. This six-pack is growing more bulge by the day.”

“What's stopping you from settling down?”

“I haven’t met her yet.” Derek replied.

“What about Savannah? She seems nice.”

“She is awesome. She’s beautiful and smart and comes from a close, loving family just like me. I just,” he shrugged and ate his pie. “I don't know. I think my mama ruined it for me.”

“Your mom? How so?”

“I don’t know if I can find a woman like her. And expecting her to tolerate what I do for long; it’s rare. Look at Hotch, look at Rossi…the FBI has ridiculous divorce rates.”

“It’s not easy for us either.” Alex said. She tasted the pie and closed her eyes. Oh God, it was good. It was really, really good. She was wondering how she would eat it and still maintain decorum. “Women in the FBI fare better by only the slightest of margins.”

“You're doing alright.”

“I see my husband every blue moon. OK yeah, Boston is better than Bolivia or Bhutan but it’s still not easy. We both miss so much and we still grow as people. Sometimes I worry we’re going to grow in separate directions. I guess all married people worry about that, under the same roof or not.”

“I want that thing my parents had.” Derek said. “That love, that friendship, that trust, that lust…I want it all. I don’t even think it all exists. In the end we have to sacrifice something and I think so many of us are selfish. 

“The job we do, the people we help, it’s amazing. The job is also extremely selfish. I make a decision every day to barely avail myself to having a real life. I make that decision consciously. I make that decision having already seen what it has done to great men.”

Alex nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. She worked so hard to get her career back on track and get into the BAU. Alex Blake had been an FBI golden child at one time. Over a decade later she felt like she was still in the middle of the race instead of dashing to the finish line. There were times she could’ve given up but refused. Her dreams were so important to her, and all she sacrificed to get on that jet. 

But she wasn’t a starry eyed kid anymore. Like Morgan, when she woke up in the morning and went back to that bullpen or that crime scene or that conference room, she knew there were things she was missing out on. Some said having it all was overrated. Sometimes Alex thought she might just want a little more of it. A little more barely fit into her already packed schedule.

“We should watch a comedy.” She said. “I want to laugh tonight, not cry.”

“I did take the conversation on a seriously downward spiral, didn’t I?” Morgan asked.

“You're making it up to me with this pie.”

“What else can I do to make it up to you?”

“Mmm,” Alex smiled as she leaned back and put her feet up on the ottoman. He was right, it would take a while for her legs to wake up. She may as well enjoy herself while she waited. “How do you feel about Billy Wilder?”

“ _The Apartment, Stalag 17_ , or _The Seven Year Itch_?” Morgan asked.

“Oh my God, you never want me to go home do you?”

“Well its Saturday night so we don’t have to go to bed early.”

“ _The Apartment_ , definitely _The Apartment_. Maybe _Sabrina_ afterwards…if you have it.”

***


End file.
